November was a huge bust for me. After months of pretty consistently staying in the gym and eating well my schedule really got blown up. And my workouts and eating habits suffered.

To get myself back on track I am going to try posting here everyday for 28 days. I figure I log on to GC everyday anyway so it wont be so hard to do. And hopefully posting what I am doing will give me the extra motivation to get back on track that I need.

Feel free to chime in with whatever advice, encouragement or suggestions you have. And if you want to drop in your own workouts and other info go for it.

I have sorta had a similar epiphany. My eating habits have slowly deteriorated into crap. Thus far, from mid October until now has been an epic failure diet wise. I don't follow the scale too much, but I can tell a difference in how my clothes are fitting and in the mirror.

Based on this, I have decided to put in place the following plan.
1. My company hosts a 5k run every year in October. I WILL do this in 2011, and put up what I feel is a "respectable" time. I am FAR from a runner, in fact, I hate it. So this will be a minor challenge. I know I can cover the distance, but I want to cover it in less than 25 minutes, if not faster.

2. Be aware of calories eaten. I lost sight of this. Especially at dinner. Dinners were becoming huge and then snacking before and after. Just bad. Get this in check.

I understand what you are saying about not following the scale. If that was all I looked at I would not be concerned with my weight, but I just dont feel as good as I know I could. And I think I could look a little better.

Looks like you have a good plan going forward. I would make sure to set some short term goals on the running since the 5K is so far off.

So far so good on mine. Did my run/jog outside yesterday, in spite of it being about 40 degrees. Wasn't too bad once I was able to sweat a little (in my sweatshirt and hoodie), but the first 3/4 of a mile was brutal.

Being outside in the cold is rough and trying to exercise is even worse. I know all I am doing is walking and I hate it, I doubt I could go for a run. Its 26 degrees here now, I might forgo the walking today.

Yesterday I managed to get in the gym and do my usual chest day. For the most part I think it went well though I felt a little sluggish on my final 5-3-1 set. Not sure if that was from diet, working out at a different time than normal or from consciously trying to back it down a little.

Its been pretty easy to keep my cals in the rang I want lately since I just dont have any junk around me. So far so good.

5-3-1 is just a lifting program designed to make slow progressive strength gains. It focuses on Bench, Deadlift, Shoulder Press and Squat. I think I posted the links to it in one of the other threads. I would post again but I dont have the link on this computer.

Not that it is that cold here, but I know what you mean about exercising in the cold. It was 40 degrees yesterday on my run. Sucky.

I don't know how you are able to stay at 1800 calories a day. It isn't even lunch yet and I have already eaten 700 to 800.

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I ended up walking to the train this morning despite it being freezing, bad idea. It was painful.

As far as the calories, its weird, it felt hard the first few days but this is probably my fifth day and it just keeps getting easier. One thing is just making myself busier, the other is caffeine which seems to help. I drink water and chew gum a lot too. And when I do eat I try to make it foods that are more filling for fewer calories. I think that is the big thing. Yesterday I actually struggled to get to 1800 because I only 800 calories by 5pm thanks to a dentist appointment that took forever.

Almost one week in and have not broken down yet. Gonna hit the gym for Squats after work today.

I will see how my progress is on them and if I feel like my energy is lacking I am going to manipulate my carbs over the weekend.

I have kept them around 100 g or less. Which is fine for me but I would like to have more energy in the gym and I did not feel that way when I was benching. And squats are even more of a test. I am trying not to sacrifice my workouts as much as possible and I might need to rethink how much of what I am eating to help get the energy levels up.